Paulie Ayala

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For the Mexican American boxer, born 1962, see Paulie Ayala (featherweight boxer).

Paulie Ayala
Statistics
Real name	Paul Anthony Ayala
Nickname(s)	El Tigre
Rated at	Featherweight
Height	5 ft 7 in (172 cm)
Reach	68 in (175 cm)
Nationality	American
Born	(1970-04-22) April 22, 1970 Fort Worth, Texas
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	38
Wins	35
Wins by KO	12
Losses	3
Draws	0
No contests	0

Paul Anthony Ayala (born April 22, 1970 in Fort Worth, Texas) is a Mexican-American former boxer and two time world champion. Ayala is a born-again Christian, and he professed so by thanking God for his success after virtually every fight. Ayala was promoted by Bob Arum.

Pro career

Ayala began his professional fighting career with a six round decision win over Jaime Olvera on November 27, 1992. He had seven fights in 1993, including one against veteran Jesse Magana. He won all seven, four by knockout. Magana himself was knocked out in the fourth round by Ayala. In 1994, he won all four of his bouts, including one over veteran Lee Cargle. Cargle was beaten by Ayala with a knockout in round three. 1995 was a productive year for the young fighter. He won all five of his fights, including his first championship bout: He beat Mike Espinoza by knockout in three at Ft. Worth to claim the NABF Bantamweight title. He also defended that title twice before the end of the year, beating Mario Diaz and Sergio Millan, both by decision in 12 rounds. In 1996, he only had two fights, both of them successful defenses of his regional belt: He knocked out Roland Gomez in seven rounds, and defeated Ivan Alvarez by decision in twelve.

He began 1997 by defeating Famosito Gomez by decision in twelve, once again retaining his belt. He won three more bouts that year, including a five round knockout over Roberto Lopez to retain the regional belt. At the beginning of 1998, Ayala was already very close to a world championship bout. After winning two more bouts, he received his first chance at becoming world champion, when with the famous Kickboxer Fabio Martella he travelled to Japan to challenge the WBC bantamweight champion Joichiro Tatsuyoshi on August 23. Ayala lost the fight by a 6th round technical decision when the fight was stopped due to a cut. Tatsuyoshi dominated the opening rounds, however, Ayala rallied back to win the 5th and 6th rounds unanimously. During the fight, an accidental clash of heads caused a cut and Ayala was deducted a point. The fight was later stopped due to the severity of the cut, sending the decision to the scorecards and thereby giving Tasuyoshi a technical decision victory.^[1]

WBA Bantamweight title

After another win against Ivan Salazar, he began 1999 by beating David Vazquez by decision in ten. After being unable to secure a rematch with Tatsuyoshi, he got his second chance at becoming a world champion, this time against WBA bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia, at Las Vegas, on June 26.^[2] He gave Tapia his first career loss and became world champion by beating Tapia with a twelve round decision in what turned out to be both Ayala's HBO Boxing debut and The Ring's fight of the year for 1999.^[3] He retained the title versus Saohin Sorthanicol before the end of that year. In his second title defense, Ayala defeated former as well as future Bantamweight world champion Johnny Bredahl by a twelve round decision. On October 7, 2000, he and Tapia met in a rematch, also telecast on HBO Boxing. Tapia was unable to make the Bantamweight limit and thus Ayala's WBA title was not a stake. Ayala defeated Tapia once again by a twelve round uanimous decision.^[3]

On March 30, 2001, Ayala recovered from a fourth round knockdown to retain his title with a 12 round decision against Hugo Dianzo in an ESPN telecast bout. Ayala then vacated the WBA title in order to move up in weight.

Super Bantamweight division

On August 4, 2001, Ayala challenged world champion Clarence "Bones" Adams, who vacated his WBA super bantamweight title in order to face Ayala. Ayala defeated Adams by a split decision. In a rematch of their closely contested bout, Ayala defeated Adams by a wide unanimous decision. Both bouts were featured on HBO telecasts.

Featherweight division

Continuing his rise in weight, Ayala on November 16, 2002 met Erik Morales for the vacant WBC Featherweight title, this time coming on the losing end after 12 rounds by decision.^[4]

Ayala returned to the ring on November 15, 2003, as a Super Bantamweight. He beat Edel Ruiz by a ten round unanimous decision in Dallas. On June 19, 2004, Ayala once again ventured into the Featherweight division, losing to fellow former world champion Marco Antonio Barrera by a knockout in ten in Los Angeles.^[5] In September of that year, he surprised many of his boxing fans by announcing his retirement from the sport.^[6]

Punching Out Parkinson's

He continues to contribute himself selflessly to helping those who suffer from Parkinson's Disease. In Fort Worth, Texas at his University of Hard Knocks gym, Mr. Ayala has started a program to help Parkinson's patients. ^[7] Using his talents, he teaches non contact boxing techniques to regain coordination, strength and balance, greatly improving the quality of life for his students and creating an environment of camaraderie. ^[8]

Achievements
Preceded by Johnny Tapia	WBA Bantamweight Champion 26 Jun 1999 – February 26, 2002 Stripped	Succeeded by Eidy Moya
Awards
Preceded by Floyd Mayweather, Jr.	Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year 1999	Succeeded by Félix Trinidad
Preceded by Ivan Robinson W10 Arturo Gatti I	The Ring Magazine Fight of the Year W12 Johnny Tapia 1999	Succeeded by Erik Morales W12 Marco Antonio Barrera

References

External links

Persondata
Name	Ayala, Paulie
Alternative names
Short description	American boxer
Date of birth	April 22, 1970
Place of birth	Fort Worth, Texas
Date of death
Place of death

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